As will be apparent from my aforementioned patent, the art cited therein and especially U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,131, it is known to provide a fluid pressurizable sole structure which can be referred to as an air cushion shoe sole and which is usually molded with the outsole and/or the upper and can be embedded or otherwise secured over the greater part of the area of the sole to the structures between which the air cushion cells are sandwiched.
Various configurations have been developed for air cushion cells as well. I have discovered, after considerable research in this field that prior shoemaking techniques for the fabrication of athletic shoes have resulted in products which are less than satisfactory both with the ability to highly pressurize the air cushion structure, and the comfort of the shoe. In particular I have found, most surprisingly, that the bonding of the air cushion structure or the molding thereof within the system formed by the outsole and the shoe upper have created significant problems and drawbacks and that prior configurations of the air cushion structure have interfered with comfort and caused problems with respect to the stability of the shoe.